All posts tagged ‘crowdsourcing’

We are not alone. When we are alone, we are never alone. This isn’t in the universal sense; there might be sentient life out there but I’m talking in the personal sense. When we are alone, by ourselves, we are not alone. Our bodies, the human body, are covered in symbiotic and complementary organisms. Let us forget about all the microscopic critters living in our hair follicles and focus on the bacteria instead. That’s what uBiome is focusing on as they map the human microbiome.

Whether we want to admit it or not, no matter how “icky” some of us find it to be, bacteria in our bodies actually protects us. Not all bacteria, of course, but a good lot of it. For some this is common knowledge, for others this is a constant revelation as they are reminded of that fact by their doctors in certain situations. In fact, bacterial cells outnumber human cells ten to one in the body. This community of bacterial genes and human cells is known as the microbiome, and offers up many secrets of the human body and how it operates.

OK.com asks parents at what age is a movie OK, and whether it was worth their time

In addition to building things and playing games, GeekDad is clearly a fan of movies. We geeks have a vested interest in raising our kids on the finer points of the Force and Patronus. It is in our best interest to make sure the next generation understands that where we are going, we don’t need roads.

Unfortunately, the cue the movie industry provides as to what is kid-appropriate — [G] does not stand for “Geeky” — is the MPAA ratings system, a flawed process that assigns a code to suggest a minimum age for viewing a film. The various contributing factors are conflated into a single rating that can sometimes miss the mark, hiding the nuanced information parents need to match their style with movie choices for their children.

Crowdsourcing — the practice of using a large collection of people to move mountains. There are plenty of examples such as raising funds for a potential product (Kickstarter), making improvements on an open source operating system (Linux), or pulling together programmers to create a new game or application (Hackathons). I love crowdsourcing. It’s the idea that 100,000 people can more easily contribute $1 each versus 1,000 people each contributing $100. It’s the idea of having multiple skillsets available, with as many eyes on the end result as possible. And it’s the idea that one good idea can flourish and become many good ideas when interested parties choose to take the original idea and run with it.

And that’s what this post is about. An idea. I want to throw out this idea and open up some discussion. And maybe… just maybe… one or two interested parties (individual, group, or even corporate) might see some potential and run with it.

Before I share this idea, let me explain the concept as I see it, along with some background on where it came from… and then I’m going to set it free in the wild and cross my fingers that someone or some group might know how best to proceed. I’m going to use a bullet list to organize my thoughts, but please feel free to use the special forum over on our new GeekDad Community site to add your own thoughts — here goes:

1. Neal Stephenson’s novel The Diamond Age introduced “The Young Ladies Primer,” an interactive book that teaches its owner (typically a child) at a customized speed. Asking the book a question such as Why is the sky blue? might first involve teaching the child some basics about light. A discussion of light might involve a video or narration that teaches an older child about wavelengths. The point is… the book evolves, tracking what the child knows, and offering up tangential discussions to expand the knowledge base using entertaining stories, interactive elements (the book talks back to the child), and two of the most basic components of the Internet, the hyperlink and the search engine.

The next time someone tells you that playing video games is a waste of time, or that apart from simulators they have no practical uses, you now have some serious ammunition on your side. A team of video gamers playing a game that has players manipulate various molecular structures to find the ones that fit scientific criteria has found the structure of an enzyme that could prove key to finding a cure for AIDS.

What’s more, scientists have been working on this puzzle for ten years. The video gamers found the structure in less than ten days. The game they played is called Foldit, one of a number of games that attempt to make a fun activity out of crowdsourcing scientific discoveries. Such games haven’t exactly given commercial video games a run for their money, but some have a loyal community of players — and of course there’s hope that this discovery will lead to some growth in the games’ popularity.

Some groups are trying to leverage this kind of game for use in educational environments as well. They figure that, if making a game out of scientific investigation can lure people who have no scientific training to invest their time solving important puzzles, it might also make school learning more palatable to kids. It remains to be seen how effective this approach will be, but it seems clear now that the original idea has some very serious merit to it.

Now the question is: What kind of problem do you suppose my wife might believe would be solved by Batman: Arkham City?

At GeekDad we are always interested in the intersection where technology supports our children’s learning and creativity. So, this new project that is taking place in the last month of 2010 has caught our eye. It is a collaboration between a group of parents who are children’s book illustrators, software engineers, handmade toys and children’s fashion artisans and educators who are proposing we begin to use digital technology to support our children’s creativity.

A group of collaborators under the collective title of Being Prudence are inviting children and families from around the world to contribute to the world’s largest curated exhibition of children’s arts and craft, masquerading as an advent calendar (yes, audacious is the word they use too). This team, based in four different countries (USA, Canada, Australia, UK) and being of various faiths promise to be respectful by recognizing Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa in their calendar.

The project is called (and found at) Felicity from Thin Air and this free event runs from December 1, 2010 to January 1, 2011.

This web-based calendar promises to offer a daily surprise from an illustrator, along with a suggested fun family activity or occasional craft activity. Parents and children will be asked to upload images of their creativity and fun to the internet to be part of an online exhibition. This exhibition promises to feature every single child’s contribution front and center, while keeping a curated experience for families to shield them from potential cyber-spammers.

There’s some clever sleigh of hand working behind the scenes, with a small touch of love and effort on the part of the parents. Below each featured child’s contribution will be a growing mosaic of curated contributions from around the world.

The aim of Felicity from Thin Air is to use technology and the web-based calendar to inspire creativity and to create a magical experience by inspiring sharing and collaboration across the globe, yet nestled in a safe environment between children’s families using what they’re terming a “conspiracy of fun”.

The exhibition is free and open to anyone to contribute, whether you’re a child, parent or a creative spirit. To add some additional spice, the Felicity from Think Air team is offering a free iPhone app to be released in the coming days, featuring some extra magic by hacking augmented reality with stop motion origami. This will be a treat worth downloading for you to play with.

From time to time, people in charge of large internet-based projects request the help of the general public to assist in their work. Think SETI@home and Galaxy Zoo. Currently, there is another project with which you can help, supported by National Geographic Digital Media. It is called “Field Expedition: Mongolia — Valley of the Khans Project.” This project is a huge archaeological survey of parts of Mongolia, looking for the tomb of Genghis Khan and other Mongolian cultural heritage sites. Wired’s own Gadget Lab wrote about this project last year.

Satellite imagery made available by GeoEye Foundation. Satellite image of Mongolia showing a possible site of archaeological interest.

Genghis Khan‘s tomb has never been found because of some fascinating historical factors which you can read about on the project’s website. By combining the use of high tech tools and crowdsourcing, their small team of explorers, led by Albert Lin, turns into a team of thousands working together to identify possible tomb locations. This is done by having the general public studying satellite images and identifying the features we see. There’s no way the small team would have enough time to search the entire area themselves, so our help is invaluable. It’s amazing how helpful we can be without being experts on satellite imagery. It’s very easy to spot rivers and roads, and pretty intuitive to spot modern structures, such as yurts, and signs of ancient or buried structures, such as burial mounds or odd land patterns. Then, combining this information with real-time data and maps, the expedition gets a clearer picture of the different areas of Mongolia.

One reason why the explorer team is using satellite imagery techniques is to minimize the amount of digging that is done, which preserves Mongolia’s land and protects the cultural history. By studying the land from above, one can see subtle differences in terrain, perhaps areas that have settled in unusual ways. As possible heritage sites are located, people on the ground can investigate further. Explorer Albert Lin and his team will be investigating the tagged items, without digging any holes. Top Mongolian scholars are also participating in the process.

The idea of remaking the original Star Wars is ridiculous, of course. The idea of remaking it shot-for-shot seems both preposterous and futile. So why does the idea of remaking it shot-for-shot, with each 15-second clip remade differently, seem just crazy enough that it might work?

The idea for Star Wars: Uncut was the brainchild of Casey Pugh, a former employee of Boxee and Vimeo. He went through the entire movie and divided it into 15-second pieces — 472 of them. He then made each piece available on the project’s website for people to claim and re-create. Each person/group was allowed to claim up to three scenes, and some scenes were remade by as many as four people/groups. If that sounds like it would be haphazard, it is a bit, but Pugh did have the great idea of keeping the movie’s original audio over every clip, so that helps tie everything together.

Now the project has been completed, and Pugh and his team are ready to show the film at a festival in Copenhagen next week, with several screenings in New York City to follow. The project’s website will also be redesigned to allow users to pick which clips they want for each scene.

So, how good is the final product? Well, based on the bits I’ve seen, it’s a bit hit-or-miss, but many of the bits are just inspired. You can go to the website to see any clip you want, or content yourself for the time being with the trailer (immediately below) and the teaser (after the jump, the scene where the heroes escape the Death Star on the Millennium Falcon).

Oh, and, if you’re interested in participating in such a project, Pugh says he has every intention of doing the same thing with The Empire Strikes Back in the near future.